No. It's up to parents not to buy the stuff and just not putting the ads on TV isn't going to make it go away.

Those kids are super sized.

No. The only way most children can afford fast food is via the allowance their parents give them or their parents actually buying fast food for them. So although I think the media has a small level of responsibility it's up to parents to be parents an monitor their child's eating habits!

its not the ads that are a problem, its the parents.

and most of the time they are not obese from fast foods, but poor nutrition in the household, and that is also the responsibility of the parents.

By the way check out what the kids are doing in this picture eating in front of the TV? Where are the parents, why aren't they playing outside?

Seriously both of my parents worked, but I was lucky enough to have a stellar set of grandparents who sent me and my cousins outside to play as soon as we got home from school! My parents and grandparents also taught me life skills cooking being one of them so I never had to rely on fast food.

I don't think this is the right move. Parents need to be responsible. Feed their children healthy meals, and teach them good eating habits. Children also need to exercise more. Get out and play!

It's hard to solve a problem like this. How can so many parents be so irresponsible?

While I do believe parents are at fault, I think we owe it to the kids to try scaling back the fast food advertisements, as long as that food is crap, just to see if it works. By doing nothing, it's like punishing the kids because the parents haven't been successful in managing their meals and weight. So we need to try whatever we think could be successful, and it does appear that there is some data here to suggest it may help. At least it would end a portion of the negative reinforcement these kids are experiencing, and that could be hope for the future if not for the present.
If you've got a bad family/parenting situation on your hands in a certain aspect, it does help to have others look out for you and send you other messages. Scaling back the ads could be a small part of that, as well as efforts to make school lunches more healthy and give kids proper food education.
(I so believe in food education...when you have someone really tell you or show you how gross that McDonald's burger is, it can be life changing...once I was shown a many years-old Mickey D's burger that had not decomposed at all over that time--scary! I can never eat one of those again.)

I think this also could be an incentive for fast food places to come up with healthier options, especially in their kid-oriented meals. Because they are definitely going to want to have their tv ads back.

where I work, we try to educate parents on thier childrens weight problems, its in our interest to get them healthy so that there arent more health problems in the future and they always say things like

"but he/she wont eat the healthy stuff I buy"
my answer- if the kid is hungry and thats all there is in the house? they will eat it. .

"I dont know how to cook healthy foods"
Buying healthy foods doesnt mean its twigs and bark only, thier childrens health is at stake it would be worth researching good recipes, or asking a nutritionist (which we have at the office)

ALot of the times its the PARENTS that wont break the bad habit of eating junk, and they dont want to change thier lifestyle.

Where is responsibility these days?? As a parent, it is my responsibility to ensure that my son gets a diet of healthy, good foods and is physically active rather than a couch potato. We eat our meals as a family, never in front of the TV. Sure he gets "junk" food once in a while, but in all honesty, he doesn't ask for it frequently. He doesn't even know what McDonalds is and he would rather have broccoli and tofu than hamburgers and fries!

CG - thanks for giving your perspective from your job. That is really interesting. Are you a nutritionist??

dont know if it will fix childhood obesity as a whole - but someone get those little chubs a treadmill, STAT!

These obese children aren't do the marketing nor are they choosing where to go out to eat or even what is put on their plate at dinner or in their bowl at breakfast. This problem is completely due to poor parental guidance. And the majority of kids who are overweight have parents who are overweight. But I don't think the government has the right to tell people what to stuff their face with nor do I think lack of fast food tv ads are going to keep people out of McDonalds.

That picture is hilarious, especially the boy. Huh?!

that picture is ridiculous, I couldn't help but laugh even though I feel bad for them.

It's too bad that the problem is so pervasive that this option is even on the table, but really, parents need to make sure their children aren't porking out on fast food, plopped motionless in front of the TV for hours on end, not going outside and not eating nutritious food. Come on--this is one of those things that we really do have pretty complete control over. Good Lord.

I hate when I see the babies with soda in their bottles. I want to slap the parents.

Me too, Roar.

It also drives me nuts to see infants who barely have all their teeth in chomping on, like, a large order of McDonald's fries. Seriously.

Martini, I work for a state run service that provides care coordination for children with special needs, and we educate them on how to take care of thier children not just the specific medical problems but nutrition issues as well, which can affect the kids overall health.

I feel torn.

On the one hand, I think companies should be able to advertise whatever they want. It's up to us as consumers to decide if we want to eat fast food or up to as as parents to control what our kids eat and do.

On the other hand, it's hard to say no to something that would protect the health of kids.

you've seen babies with soda in their bottles? WTF?? wow, a lot has changed since i was a kid. that's just plain WRONG. please do slap the parents if you see that again.

fast food commercials usually gross me out, especially sonic's. sausage biscuits to dip in gravy while sitting in your car? gag.

fast food places are supreme at thinking of new ways to make people overweight. Instead of controlling ads, why not control menus?

but kids are definitely easily persuaded by what they see on tv. the solution? less tv, parents!

In our house, fast food is a "treat". They get it once a week. It's on the one night where there is only about 20 minutes between the time I get home and the time we have to leave for kids activities. The kids look forward to it, and they take turns choosing the fast food joint. Like ANYTHING, if taken in moderation it will not hurt you. The key is though, if you're going to give kids these high calorie, high fat meals there MUST be activity involved that helps them "burn it off". Just buying it and plopping the kids in front of the TV is a bad idea. Sure I realize that it happens sometimes. "I just don't feel like cooking tonight!" But I think todays busy lifestyles, overscheduling of parents/children etc. are the reasons for the problems with fast food, not what's in the fast food at all. I mean think about it, McDonalds has been around FOREVER, yet the problem with childhood obesity has only become an epidemic in the last few years. So what was different all those years ago? It's simple! Having a "stay at home" parent was much more common and Mom had more time to cook. Now that both parents are working (In most cases) and kids are getting more involved in activities there is less time for the "family dinner". It's so much easier to say "Oh crap, we're running late, let's just grab a burger!" That family dinner needs to become the priority again, and I think if it did, this problem would be reduced dramatically.

I don't think it's necessarily parents being irresponsible, I think it's more a matter of what's easier and lack of education.

I've seen that too. Watched a child (age 4 or so) have a complete meltdown at Costco until Mom gave him the soda bottle.

Mykie7- Both my husband and myself work full time and I go to school full time and make dinner at least 4 times a week. And my husband works third shift with the police department, so lots of nights Im a single parent. If I don't make dinner then we are having left overs or scrambled eggs and cut up fruit. Certainly it was easier to provide a home cooked meal every night when one parent was able to stay home, but the reality is that is not possible for most families these days. But to say I don't have time to boil some pasta and brocoli so lets go to McDonalds is a cop out. It is irresponsibility, laziness and ignorance on the parts of parents and the children are paying the price.

My daughter, who is now 8, had her first cup of soda at her sixth birthday party. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. She is allowed soda now and then and we have fast food maybe once every two months.

That's how I was raised Mykie. One of the best days was every Thursday we'd go to Wendy's before my ballet class and I'd get a big thing of french fries. Then I'd go dance it off!

well i think that there's something to think about her,e however working in advertising, i can honestly say that this is going to be a lot harder than you think. say for example that fast food companies were limited to the networks that they COULD advertise on, then inventory would be a lot tighter, driving up prices, meaning that advertisers couldn't spend as much, and networks would have more open inventory which reduces their revenue and it's just a vicious cycle. i think that some type of regulation could be considered, like there could be some cable networks that ban it, but in general, i don't think that it's realistic here.

Banning fast food commercials won't protect a child's health. The parents need to stop eating fast food with their so often, and need to eat more health meals and exercise. Everything in moderation (except sex, because that's exercise).

My kids would be obese if they ate everything they wanted to eat..it's real simple.."No you cannot eat chicken nuggets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
It works people...they know who the boss is!

UnDave, you are way funny.
I support freedom of speech. but if we are going to use the first amendment- Mickey Ds should be able to advertise whatever they want.....as long as they make nutritional information readily available.
Also, as of late, they have those Mighty Kids meals (like other fast food restaurants) for "healthier" options.
I think I agree with a lot of people on here about how it is up to parents to teach their children how to eat well.
But what percentage of american adults do not eat well? A big one. And that isn't even the biggest problem.

I think a lot of the problem stems around poverty, education, and availability. What do you find in South Los Angeles? Or Dorchester, MA? Wendys. Mickey Ds. Taco Bell and Arbys.
Kids aren't out climbing trees and ice skating and riding bikes. It isn't safe.
Also, health food isn't exactly easily accessible, cheap, or a top priority.

To solve it, there have been health initiatives (Los Angeles is zoning fast food to encourage healthier options to enter low-income areas and New York just abolished trans fats or something like that. And, as I said earlier, fast food restaurants are offering "apple dippers" instead of "fries" or whatever they do.

I think these are all good ideas on creating a healthier america....but clearly we need more.

haha is it bad I'm craving Chinese food now? I'm so weird.

Anyway, this reminds me of a recent trip to the super market- this mother of of three walked in - all four ENORMOUSLY large. I have never seen such excitement come out of children at a grocery store before- they were going crazy over all the junk food their mother was buying them. I was completely sickened and shocked. How can you, as a mother, ruin your childrens' health like that???? My boyfriend had to drag me away bc I just stared with my mouth open. I know that was rude of me but I was so mad at her! Not ONE healthy item in that cart, which instead, was spilling over with chips, donuts, ice cream, fried c*rap ETC.

That said, when I'm trying to eat healthy, those fast food commercials DO NOT help (I'm a sucker for burger king ) But at least my mom taught me well, and *usually* I dont cave...

Has anyone seen that commercial with that little girl in the grocery cart talking about "i dont like (insert food here)" and then the mom freaking buys her ensure or whatever liquid calorie drink. ....I hate it, i always yell at the TV. I DONT CARE WHAT YOU DONT LIKE KID, you WILL eat it.

Exactly, CG. Parents are the ones who get to dictate what their kids eat, not the other way around.

Banning or limiting fast food commercials isn't the answer. First you have to get the kids off their backsides and outside to play or involved in sports so they are burning off calories. Then you have to educate the parents that think fast food is the answer to time crunches in the evening.

It's all well and good to moan and complain about bad parents, but what can be done about it? At least this group is trying to find a source of the problem that we have some control over, you know? There's nothing I can do to keep a mom from hitting the drive through, but something to keep kids from asking for it is a start.

You know we should just ban all commercials. All this credit card debt that we have is certainly caused by people seeing things that they can't afford.

Government, please protect us from ourselves!

There really needs to be a parenting license, and parents need to get a backbone, and tell their children "NO" to things like this. Yes, it's convenient, but at what cost? You are right, TS, in that we can't make parents do the right thing. Should we punish the companies that make a profit from it? That's not right either.

Children are aware of McDonalds, Wendys etc. without the advertisements. To think that banning commercials is going to solve the problem is ridiculous. We are a country of excess in every facet, from big cars, to big homes, to super sized portions, to spending. The only thing we don't do to excess apparently is exercise.

I'm sure kids are aware of McDonalds, but I remember begging for a happy meal when there was some cool toy I'd seen on tv.

That's true, True.

I remember begging for happy meals as well. My parents had the gumption to say no. That's what we are missing.

I'm probably going to hear it for this, since no one seems to be on the pro side for this ban, but I actually am... But I'd apply this to *all* advertising to children (toys, fast food, sugary cereals, etc.) Countries like the ones mentioned tend to have healthier kids in general (as well as bans on advertising to under __ years old), so I think it could have some impact. I love the 1st Amendment, don't get me wrong, but it's unhealthy (physically and psychologically) to raise our kids to be so materialistic and instant gratification seeking... We don't advertise cigarettes and alcohol to kids, right?

Yes, we need to get kids outside and playing more. Yes we need to get them (and more importantly their parents) making healthier choices. But if a 5 year old doesn't sit through the commercial advertising the new Barbie doll/Hot Wheels car in the current Happy Meal, they're not going to care as much about going RIGHT NOW to get one, are they?

Sounds like you lucked out Dave, and that's great!

I just think b*tching about bad parents doesn't get us anywhere. It's really easy to say parents should not let their kids watch tv, shouldn't let them eat junk food, etc. And while I'm sure complaining on a blog does a lot of good...what actions can we take besides slapping parents who give their babies soda?

And I'm not saying we should have an ad ban, but what if they tried it and it ended up having amazing results?

Why not ban commericals for toys made out of plastic because they are bad for the enviroment too, or ban commericials of any household cleaning product that contains chemicals that are bad for children if they drink the.... seriously of course we can control the airwaves but what if I a person with no children like fast food commericals (which I don't) why should I be punished because kids are fat? It's the parents job how about the parents say monitoring tv time that would cut down on the amount of tv they see period!

Oh, and for the comment about "Why has this gotten so bad in only the last few years..?"

Well, for starters, people cave in to their kids more now than ever, probably because they're stressed and overscheduled. If you look at food trends in the last 60 years (since fast food became a major player in the American dinner), we gradually have started eating more and more of it, paired with the fact that fast food meals have gotten bigger and bigger as well as more and more unhealthy (additives, artificial flavoring, etc.), and you have a recipe for an obese nation.

Funny thing I notice: Quite a few of my friends and I have had to 're-educate' ourselves about healthy food as adults. The friends who were able to complete this process (which honestly can take a long time) *before* having kids pass those new healthy habits on to their kids. The ones who didn't get that chance and had kids young, I always see their kids with soda, chips, cookies or a 'value kids meal'.

What if they just banned everything that was bad for us, like drugs? This is a free country. Freedom comes with the personal responsibility, and that is the one thing that many people seem to be forgetting. It's like I want to be able to do anything I want, but if I get hurt (physically or financially), I want to blame someone else for allowing me to do it.

True true... People are always looking for someone (or something) to blame, and that will never end...

Maybe instead of bans we should think more about public education, although I do still think bans on advertising directly to children could help a lot of things. (I haven't watched TV in 3+ years so I don't know how many PSA's are playing these days.) Let's face it: advertisers JOB is to get people to buy stuff, and there's a lot to be said for the 'nag factor' that children can have.

I am not going to read the bazillion comments on here because I don't have the time, aso if I repeat anything someone has said sorry.
It's the Parents fault their kids are fat. No one elses. stop trying to blame it on anyone but yourself. I am fat, by my own causing. I do not blame the fast food industry or diet pills or soda companies.... I can eat healthy and take a run. No one is stopping me from doing that but me. Now thank God, my kids love their fruits and veggies. We don't eat fast food often, and I limit their tv and encourage them to go outside to run and play. Guess what??? they arent fat!!!

"And I'm not saying we should have an ad ban, but what if they tried it and it ended up having amazing results?"

I just don't think the end would justify the means. I hate the idea of a parent state.

I think we can all agree that we would prefer less government involvement in our lives, it's just a matter of where we draw the line marking where we start to value less regulation over any benefit. For some people it's something like this, for others it's way back by the FDA.

Ha ha no it won't stop parents from feeding their children fast food.

I have never seen a commercial for Panda Express on tv.

Question; Do we herein the US have an epidemic with childhood alcoholism? Because there are alcohol commercials on tv during prime time and on the weekend when kids watch tv. If a kid watches a sport event on tv with their parent their bombarded with commercials for Beer and hard liquor so is there a marked increase in the number of 10 year old in rehab or children who have credit card or children who feel compelled to buy stock or life insurance or fabric softner?